Health Care Spending

Health care costs have been rising for several years. Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the

It is no secret that healthcare spending in the U.S. is spiraling out of control. According to the Commonwealth Fund, The U.S. spends an “average of $9,086 per person annually, and life expectancy was 78.8 years.” (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). While 78 years may seem like an excellent life span, it pales in comparison to other developed countries.

25% or more of one’s income going toward health care is too much for today’s economy this

The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the current level of national healthcare expenditures and to determine if we as Americans are spending too much on healthcare. The author of this paper will provide examples and solutions where we as a nation should add or cut from the healthcare expenditures. This paper will also detail how the general public's healthcare needs are being paid for, the biggest economic healthcare challenge, why the challenge should be addressed, and how this challenge to be financed.

3n. Why has out of pocket spending been trending up over the last 20 years? Kelton opines that there has been such a forceful movement away from employer based insurance that the employer based system will collapse. (Kelton & CFEPS, 2007, para. 38) For the employers that

Obamacare was originally projected to cut the national deficit by over $200 billion during its first 10 years, and by over $1 trillion over the next two decades in March of 2012. Although estimates have changed, the law’s provisions continue to curb healthcare costs. This helps offset the current estimated $1.207 trillion net cost of ObamaCare’s insurance related provisions. (The gross cost of ObamaCare is $1,707 billion, offset by a projected $500 billion in revenue for 2016–2025.)

In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.

The U.S. has experienced a dramatic change over the last decade. Health costs have continued to rise and have become unreasonable. The spending of health care costs has affected the citizens of the U.S. as well as health care facilities negatively. Americans are not capable of paying for health expenses on their own. There are some reasonable options that have been suggested as a solution to this issue, but have not been successful. For example, aids such as health insurance and Medicaid help with a certain percentage of the overall cost, but people are still left to pay for health insurance premiums and the remaining expenses that the insurance does not cover. Also, the government has contributed a large amount of money towards healthcare supplies such as prescription drugs, but there are some consequences such as the future researching for drugs and other cures for illnesses being hindered. Although relying on the government to contribute to rising health costs seems like the best solution, there are consequences which causes a drastic effect on Americans and future research on cures for diseases.

America faces a choice, keep the health care coverage it has, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or scrap it and come up with something better. While the ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement could do better, much better. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121.

The fact is that the U.S. spends more money on health care than any other country in the world, even when adjusting for relative wealth, according to a 2008 study by Mkcinsey Global Institute (MGI). In 2012 that number was about 2.6 trillion dollars or 18.6% of their gross domestic product (GDP) (13), in other words the U.S. spent about 8,915 dollars per person on health care, or more than twice what they spent on food and more than China spent on all goods and services combined (See Figure 1, MG1 2008). The amount spent on health care is expected to continue to rise , though that rise has slowed in the last three years, estimates suggest it could reach nearly 4.8 trillion dollars by 2021; which would be roughly one fifth of the U.S. GDP (15)

Healthcare spending growth rate trends show astounding estimates. Since 1960, spending has risen from $27 billion ($143 per capita, 5.1% pf GDP) to amazing $1,678.9 billion ($5,670 per capita, 15.3% of GDP, 2003 data) (HHS, 2005). Recent research estimated that by 2013, healthcare spending will be as high as 18.4% of the Growth Domestic Product. It is important to note that the gradual move from hospital to ambulatory setting has resulted in much higher spending on outpatient hospital services and prescription drugs. The spending growth for these two trends is much higher than the overall healthcare cost growth, which, in fact, increases faster than such important economic indicators as GDP growth, inflation growth, and population growth rates.

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

In the year 2012, expenditure on US health care amounted to 2.8 million trillion dollars, accounting for 17.2 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US. The annual average cost of health care for the characteristic American family of 4 amounted to more than

A sample size of approximately 160,000 American employees (including their dependents) were provided with free health insurance (i.e. 0% co-pay) by their firm until they were forcibly switched into a non-linear, high-deductible health insurance plan (HDHP). What would be the impact of such a demand-side policy on their health care spending behaviour? This is a central question that the authors, Brot-Goldberg et al., of their 2015 paper (What Does a Deductible Do? The Impact of Cost-Sharing on Health Care Prices, Quantities, and Spending Dynamics) seek to address. With their unique opportunity to explore this issue in a natural experiment, the authors find that the switch caused a spending reduction of medical

The healthcare system plays a key role in the economic stability of our country, as every year trillions are spent in attempt to combat disease and health issues that plaque humanity. As it makes up a significant amount of the expenditures in the economy, so the costs associated with health care of those in pain from illness and injury, including lost productivity, increased need of assistance in living and also the cost of death in some cases, is important to the economic stability and over all standard of living in our country. The key to economic prosperity is balancing the need for care with the costs of illness to keep as many people healthy and well without breaking the bank of collective society. The costs of healthcare have been increasingly problematic in recent years with so many issues surrounding the current system. With the “total health care spending in the United States expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970, meaning that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021” (Aetna). With this in mind it is apparent that as we look at the trillion-dollar industry of the medical community it seems that it needs to be a major focus of our nation as a whole and with the many issues come many creative solutions. First let us analyze the reasons behind the current cost and the major problems facing this industry and than discus what